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Published
2:56 pm CDT, Thursday, June 4, 2015

CARROLLTON – The rebuilding year for Civic Memorial Eagles girls basketball is on the brink producing a third consecutive 20-victories season.

CM, seeking 20 wins for the fourth time in the program’s history, reached 19 victories Thursday night with a 58-38 triumph over Winchester West Central in the semifinals of the 41st annual Carrollton Tournament.

“That’s a tribute to our kids’ hard work in the offseason,” CM coach Jonathan Denney said of the prospect of hitting 20 wins with a team replacing all five starters from a 31-3 squad. “And it’s also a tribute to our program for being able to maintain some consistency in what a lot of people thought may be a down year.

“It’s pleasantly surprising. We’ve beaten some good teams. On some nights, it’s not as pretty as we’d like. But the bottom line is, we’re scoring more than the other team.”

CM moves to 19-5 and will get a shot at defending its tourney title on Saturday night against the top-seeded Calhoun Warriors. Calhoun defeated CM 62-51 when the teams met Dec. 27 in the Jersey Tourney. Calhoun is ranked No. 5 in the Class 1A state poll and has won 19 straight games.

“They’re good for any class,” Denney said of the Warriors. “I don’t think you’ll get any argument there, they can compete 1, 2, 3, 4A. … We get another crack at them. I think for both teams, this is the kind of game we’re looking for heading into the postseason.”

The Eagles overpowered the Cougars with a 22-4 first half run that gave CM a 25-10 lead before settling for a 28-17 cushion at halftime.

“We’re 17-7, so we’ve played well,” West Central coach Brian Bettis said. “But when we play somebody who’s a little bigger, a little stronger, probably as fast as we are, sometimes we back away.”

Cougars senior Abby Lashmett led all scorers with 23 points while making 8 of 16 shots from the field and 7 of 8 free throws. “You can’t put it all on her,” Bettis said. “Other people have to score.”

But they did not. The rest of the Cougars combined to make 5 of 32 shots from the field, including 1 of 16 in the first half. “You can’t survive 5 of 32 from the rest of your team,” Bettis said.

Denney conceded his team’s physical edge — “Probably a little bigger, little stronger than them, and I think we used that to our advantage,” he said – and the Eagles overcame periods of play not up to their expectations.

“I hate to sound like a broken record, but that’s kind of the way it’s been all season,” Denney said. “We’ve looked really good for stretches and we’ve had stretches where it’s been not so good. It’s still a work in progress.

“It’s probably not what we wanted headed into Saturday night, not what we wanted heading toward the end of the season. But at the same time, it’s a 20-point win and it’s 19 wins on the season.”

Sophomore Allie Troeckler moved 61 points away from becoming the seventh Eagle to reach 1,000 career points after scoring 22 points along with 10 rebounds. She made 10 of 18 field-goal attempts. Kayln Troxell, a 6-2 junior, scored 10 points and “came off the bench and gave us a spark,” Denney said.

While West Central shot 27 percent (13 of 48) from the field and made 11 turnovers, CM hit 41 percent (23 of 56) from the field with 15 turnovers. The Eagles were 6 of 24 from 3-point range after starting 3 of 19.

“I don’t know if I’m real happy with 24 attempts,” Denney said, “but they were good looks. I don’t know if there were any forced out of 24. We just have to have confidence, step up and make it. … I know I’ve got some kids who can shoot it a little bit.

“We just haven’t had that big night yet. Maybe we can get it Saturday.”